Bengaluru, Feb 21 Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Both captains confirmed they come into the game with an unchanged starting XI.
This is RCB’s first home game as defending champions with the Bengaluru leg having commenced on Friday. The Bengaluru crowd certainly rose to the occasion as a sold-out Chinnaswamy crowd burst into a deafening roar when skipper Smriti Mandhana came out for the toss.
“ It's good to be back and have this sort of welcome. I think it's massive for the team to have fans around, it only motivates us. Whatever we do, we do for them. All the girls are really proud, we have done well in the last two games but we know cricket is a game where we start from zero and we are charged up. It looks like a good wicket, Vadodara had a lot of dew but Bangalore won't have much dew. I don't mind batting first here. We are going with the same eleven,” said Smirit at the toss.
Mumbai won their opening three games against their opponents before RCB went on to claim victory in the next two games. The two teams last met in the Eliminator of the 2024 WPL with RCB prevailing by five runs and going on to win the tournament.
The defending champions have certainly started their title defence in an emphatic manner having secured victories against Gujarat Giants and the Delhi Capitals.
Mumbai Indians, the winners of the inaugural edition of the tournament, on the other hand, began their campaign with a last-ball defeat against Delhi but went on to romp past the Giants with a five-wicket win.
Playing XIs:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru XI: Smriti Mandhana (c), Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh (wk), Raghvi Bist, Kanika Ahuja, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Ekta Bisht, VJ Joshitha, Renuka Singh
Mumbai Indians XI: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amelia Kerr, S Sajana, G Kamalini, Amanjot Kaur, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Parunika Sisodia
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